Lake Land College is committed to providing all of the students in the 4000 square mile district an opportunity to fulfill their educational goals. The College places primary emphasis on excellence in classroom instruction. Faculty members are expected to demonstrate and maintain in the following areas throughout their employment at Lake Land College.
Some textbook publishers offer sample tests, published overheads, and case studies to use with their textbooks. If an instructor is interested in obtaining these materials, he/she should contact the appropriate division chairperson listed at the bottom.
If an instructor wants the teacher’s edition of a particular textbook, he/she should contact Director of Auxiliary Services at 217-234-5475. They will be able to give the instructor the ISBN number, address and/or phone number of the publisher or the website. The instructor needs to contact the publisher and ask for a copy of the book. The publisher will contact the college to verify that the instructor does teach for the college and then send the teacher’s edition of the textbook. Also there are several companies that have companion websites for their books, these may be helpful for both the students and instructors and their web addresses are located on the books.
Each Division Chair maintains a course outline for every class taught in his division. In addition, course outlines can also be found on file in the Learning Resource Center and also on the S drive of campus computers under the Academics folder.
It is each instructor’s responsibility to cover the material indicated in the course outline for the designated number of lecture and/or lab hours.
The syllabus is an extension of the course outline and is designed by each individual instructor. It is an excellent tool for classroom management strategies. In most cases a syllabus works to the instructor’s advantage in that it provides the student with a map of his/her policies and procedures. While a syllabus is not currently required, it is highly recommended. The following are suggested items for inclusion on a syllabus. A syllabus template can be found by clicking here. A sample syllabus grid can be found by clicking here.
When the student is aware of test make-up policies in advance, less classroom time is lost in the session following the test. Another issue the instructor may want to communicate to the student before the first test is the process or procedure for challenging a score or a specific test answer.
It is essential that each adjunct faculty member instruct for the entire class period. If an instructor has any questions regarding his/her class meeting time or length, he/she needs to contact the Division Chair.
Because many classes taught by adjunct faculty meet only once a week for an extended time period, it is usually beneficial for both the instructor and the student to take brief breaks. Breaks should be no longer than five minutes per hour of class.
The instructor is asked to keep an accurate attendance record. Maintaining precise record of attendance is important in meeting ICCB regulations. In addition, if a student questions or tries to appeal a given grade of “W”, his/her attendance record will be used as evidence for or against the appeal.
Many studies cite that individual attention is one of the key factors in student retention. The instructor is encouraged to contact a student who stops attending and to encourage that student to return to class. The 10-day roster has each student’s address and phone number for easy reference. For additional help in contacting a student, the instructor may call the Division Chair.
Teacher absences are discouraged since the student has put aside time and sometimes drives a long distance to attend class. However, on occasion, an instructor may become ill and be unable to attend class. Should a situation such as this occur, please most importantly notify the Division Chair and their respective Divisional Administrative Assistant as soon as possible. The instructor needs to notify the students via email or phone if possible.
If an instructor knows in advance that he/she will be unable to hold class on a particular date, the instructor should notify the Division Chair, preferably a week in advance.
In addition, if a class should be cancelled for the evening rather than instructed by a substitute, the total class minutes for this session must be made up. The instructor should notify the Division Chair in writing as to how this will be accomplished.
If a substitute is hired, the instructor’s pay for the course will be reduced by the amount paid to the substitute.
The following are minimal suggestions for the development of a test:
Two critical issues to consider when developing effective tests are that they should be both reliable and valid. A reliable test is one that consistently yields the same result. For example, if an instructor gives the same test ion three different sections of the same course, the results should be similar. Since it is sometimes difficult for the student to determine what the instructor considers testable material, it is a good idea to test often and to test only limited amounts of information. This ensures that a student’s subject-related abilities will be tested rather than his/her ability to guess what will be tested.
In addition, a test should be valid. It should measure the information it intends to measure and the information that has been covered in class. One way to do this is to decide what percentage of class time was spent on each topic; the number of questions for each topic should be distributed proportionately.
When developing test questions, an instructor needs to consider what it is he/she wants to measure or find out. Furthermore, the type of question that would best facilitate the answer should be considered. A test that utilizes all types of questions is most effective. Factual questions such as true/false and matching are most practical when testing for recall and memory. Short answer and essay question are effective when seeking answers that require interpretation and application. Multiple-choice questions can be either category depending on how they are written.
There are special considerations when writing each type of test question:
Since it is difficult for a student to concentrate on new material or to review material while anticipating a test, it is best to administer the test at the beginning of the class period. This method of operation also encourages the student to study before coming to class. Be sure to allow each student sufficient time to complete the test and plan an activity or a break for any student who finished early. And if at all possible, it is best to grade the test and return the test at the next class session. Present and future leanings depend on an accurate base of previous knowledge. The test gives each student the needed feedback about his/her understanding if those previous lessons.
If an instructor has questions about grading, he/she will want to contact the appropriate Division Chair at the beginning of the term. The Division Chair can give the instructor information such as:
Grades are extremely important especially in sequence courses. The student is expected to have developed certain skills upon completion of such a course. The grade given should reflect the student’s skills and knowledge. Although every instructor does not grade in the same way, there should be some continuity. The following are questions that an instructor often considers when deciding grades:
Again, the appropriate Division Chair can help or refer the instructor for help.
If there is a concern about the grades a particular instructor is issuing, this concern will be pointed out to the instructor by the Division Chair. For example, if an instructor has a high withdrawal rate for a particular class or if grades seem inflated, the instructor will be made aware of this situation in the following manner:
If the pattern continues, the Division Chair will ask the instructor to work with a mentor until some consistency with departmental norms is shown.